Chelsea are unwilling to sanction a loan exit for Romelu Lukaku and will only consider permanent offers for the forward.
Lukaku does not feature in the plans of new manager Mauricio Pochettino and is understood to be training away from the first-team squad, having not been assigned a shirt number since returning from a loan spell at Inter Milan.
The Belgium international had been expected to sign for Inter on a permanent basis, but the Italians withdrew their interest after learning Lukaku had also been negotiating with rivals Juventus.
Juventus had hoped to agree a swap-deal that would see Chelsea part with Lukaku and €40m in exchange for Dusan Vlahovic, but the west Londoners are not interested in that exchange on the current terms.
The forward has also turned down approaches from Saudi Pro League sides with the 30-year-old keen to remain in Europe, but the current situation leaves Lukaku in limbo as the transfer deadline approaches.
Sky Sports are reporting that Chelsea’s stance has ‘always been to do a permanent deal’ and the Blues are keeping the option of a Saudi sale open, despite Lukaku’s reluctance to move to the Middle East.
The Saudi Pro League transfer window remains open for a further week after the closure of incoming business for Premier League clubs.
